"Little Xueting, how about we make a bet!" At that moment, Wen Zishan suddenly sent a voice transmission over to their side again.
"A bet on what?" Gao Xueting turned her head to glance over.
"Bet on which one of them will win!" Wen Zishan smiled faintly, pointing downward.
"What are the stakes?" Gao Xueting asked coldly.
"Hmm, let me think..." Wen Zishan adopted a thoughtful expression. "Ah, that's right—Little Xueting, haven't you always wanted to enter the Gate of Life and Death for training? If you win, I'll grant you permission. What do you say?"
"Are you serious?" Gao Xueting's beautiful eyes narrowed as she demanded.
Nearby, Chen Qian also reacted upon hearing the words "Gate of Life and Death."
"When have I ever... deceived you?" Wen Zishan asked with a harmless, innocent smile on his face.
Gao Xueting stared intently at Wen Zishan, as if trying to peer into the depths of his heart, but the man simply maintained that warm, almost blinding smile. After a long moment, Gao Xueting finally looked away and said, "It's true—you may spend every day goofing around, shirking your duties, carrying yourself like a complete buffoon, with absolutely none of the bearing befitting a Sect Master..."
Wen Zishan's face darkened at the evaluation, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "Hearing you put it that way, I feel like I'm... utterly worthless!"
Gao Xueting's tone shifted. "But you've genuinely never lied to anyone!"
"Is that really my only redeeming quality..." Wen Zishan slumped dejectedly.
"Then if you win—what do you want?" Gao Xueting asked coldly.
Wen Zishan gave a sly chuckle, his bright gaze sweeping over Gao Xueting several times.
The latter squirmed under his gaze, a faint blush creeping across her cheeks as she snorted, "Pack away those dirty thoughts right now, or I'll gouge your eyes out."
"Where is your mind going..." Wen Zishan laughed helplessly. "All right, how about this—if I win, you agree to one small request from me. Nothing that violates your principles or goes too far."
"A small request... what kind of request?" Gao Xueting asked warily.
"Well... I haven't decided yet. I'll tell you once I think of it?" Wen Zishan deflected with a laugh.
"Sister Gao, don't fall for it!" Chen Qian warned from the side with good intentions, afraid that Gao Xueting might impulsively walk into Wen Zishan's trap. "Who knows what the Sect Master has been plotting in secret?"
"I know!" Gao Xueting nodded. As she spoke, she glanced downward and added, "But he'll need to win this bet first. Otherwise, all of this talk is meaningless."
With that, she nodded toward Wen Zishan and said, "Fine. I agree."
"It's a deal!" Wen Zishan chuckled. "No going back on your word."
"You'd better prepare my Gate of Life and Death entry pass first!"
Chen Qian sighed, looking thoroughly exasperated. While she didn't believe that Yang Kai had the strength to defeat Xue Yi—the fifteenth-ranked Dao Source Realm cultivator of the entire Qingyang Divine Temple—she still had a nagging unease. The Sect Master might be a complete degenerate in every other regard, but when it truly mattered, he was surprisingly dependable.
Chen Qian didn't think Wen Zishan would actually allow Gao Xueting to enter the Gate of Life and Death, which meant he must be extremely confident about this bet.
At that thought, she hurriedly looked downward.
Down below, Xue Yi regarded Yang Kai's approaching figure with a trace of surprise, then sneered menacingly, "Wouldn't it have been easier to just lie there? Why did you have to stand up and walk over? You're digging your own grave!"
"You're quite the treacherous one, friend. Consider me schooled!" Yang Kai snorted.
Just then, a voice suddenly reached his ear: "Kid, do well. Beat your opponent senseless, and I'll grant you a reasonable request!"
Yang Kai froze upon hearing that voice.
Because it was unmistakably the voice of Wen Zishan, the Qingyang Divine Temple's Sect Master!
He had met this man not long ago, so he was naturally very familiar with his voice. Moreover, within the Qingyang Divine Temple's headquarters, it was doubtful anyone would dare impersonate Wen Zishan and send him a voice transmission.
In other words, it really was Wen Zishan himself?
"What is this about?" Yang Kai frowned, extending his Divine Sense to sweep the surroundings, but he found no trace of Wen Zishan.
A Sect Master—secretly sending a voice transmission to an outsider like himself—telling him to go all out and beat his own sect's elite disciple senseless... If this absurd scenario hadn't happened to Yang Kai personally, he never would have believed it.
And on top of that... Wen Zishan was offering to grant him a reasonable request?
What was that supposed to mean?
Even someone as sharp as Yang Kai couldn't figure out what was going on.
And in that brief moment of distraction, a fierce attack was already upon him.
"What are you spacing out for? With a formidable enemy right in front of you, you dare lose focus... Don't look down on people!" Xue Yi's words came together with his strike. It was that same brutish punch again, a vortex of wind swirling around the fist, as if it would tear apart everything standing in its way.
"Formidable enemy?" Yang Kai suddenly raised his head, his icy eyes locking onto Xue Yi with undisguised contempt. Facing that earth-shattering blow, he neither dodged nor retreated—he drove his own fist forward to meet it head-on.